The OHS Gymnastics team has had a successful season with hopes of finishing among the best in the state. On Saturday, Feb. 11, the team had their Big 9 meet at Rochester Friedell Middle School. At the meet, the team placed first overall and had six girls finish on the all-conference team: Kaitlyn Cobban, Emma Johnson, Jozie Johnson, Chloe Myer, Delia Neumann and Kaelyn Smith. 

As a team, they had their best performance of their season with a score of 146.8. Coach Evan Moe said, “Big 9 went extremely well for us. We had been in a bit of a slump score-wise the last few meets and knew we had to throw a big score to really set ourselves apart from Mankato West who was our biggest competition. We had some great individual performances and the team as a whole kept the energy high.” Their previous best score from this season was 144.7. 

The team also had one individual that did outstandingly well at the Big 9 meet.

Senior captain Kaitlyn Cobban placed sixth on vault, second on bars, first on beam and fifth on floor. She continued to crush her competition, taking first in the all-round with her personal best score of 37.125. Cobban said, “I’m feeling really good after it, and it definitely took me by surprise. It was super fun hitting a season high on every event, and I’m more excited to see how sections go now.” 

Due to their performance at the Big 9 meet, they have a lot of faith in what is to come next.

Averie Roush said, “After winning Big 9, it definitely gave us as a team a lot more confidence after scoring a team high score, and for going into sections.” 

Now that the team has had the meet they’ve been waiting for this season, they will proceed onto the section meet. Since they did so well at Big 9, they are feeling a bit of weight lifted off their shoulders but still hope to do even better. Coach Moe said, “I am confident with the home gym advantage and the momentum we have from the conference meet that we can take it down for the third year in a row. It won’t be an easy meet but if we go out and execute, we won’t have an issue winning.” 

The team has even higher goals for this season than the section meet.

Coach Moe said, “State. Whether or not it’s a team or just a handful of individuals. We’re hoping to bring the entire team up and compete for a chance to bring home Owatonna’s first championship in gymnastics, but we still need to focus on sections before we think about that.”

The top team qualifies for the state tournament. The top three all-around gymnasts qualify for state, and as well as the top three per event. 

The section meet will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 6 p.m. at the OHS Gymnasium.